Overview
- CNN data analyst Harry Enten said updated Fox News polling and exit-poll comparisons show a more than 30-point reversal in rural support for President Trump compared with October 2024.
- Enten highlighted a wider shift on inflation, noting rural voters’ trust swung by over 50 points away from Trump on who can handle rising prices.
- Following Tuesday’s Iowa Republican primary, Trump’s endorsed candidate Randy Feenstra lost to Zack Lahn, ending the president’s near-perfect endorsement streak in the state.
- Analysts link the voter shift to concrete economic pressures in farm country, including sharply higher fertilizer and fuel costs and a 1.4% month-to-month rise in the Producer Price Index in April.
- The combination of polling, inflation data, and the Iowa result is raising Democratic odds in competitive Iowa midterm races and could change the map for the governor’s and Senate contests this cycle.